Christmas

We had a good day. Santa and family were kind to the boys this year. The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We are just now trying to sort through everything. The boys got a PS3(thanks to John and Susan). Trey got a fish and tank and a squawker bird. Evan got skates. Zane got many fun shoes and socks along with a SmartCycle. Mommy got her ModPink Vera purse. And daddy got tons of cologne along with the Legends Guitar game for PS3.
We had a little fun with Haley on Christmas day. She really wanted a new phone. So hubby decided to buy her a fake plastic phone and surprise her. We gave it to her as the last gift. She was not amused but the whole family thought it was funny. It really was funny.....trust me on this! Teasing her about the phone was so easy all day. She was really really mad by dinner for not getting her phone. After teasing her all day the "real" phone was given to her by her mother. It was ringing in her purse. Funny how that ended up in there. She looks really happy in the last picture doesn't she.....new phone and all. I just love Christmas!!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!!!

Well...make that one front tooth. Evan has finally lost his third tooth of his seven years of life. He has two more that are loose(one top front and one bottom side) but since he is afraid to wiggle them they will take another few months to come out. His front tooth has been wiggly since before 1st grade started. He is so excited that the Tooth Fairy comes one night and Santa the next night. He feels very special and lucky!

I've been Elfed!!

At Trey's preschool(Westminster Presbyterian) they make life size elf's of the children at Christmastime. After bringing home Trey's today I had to get Evan's out of the closest from his preschool days. He was curious how his compared to Trey's. My elf kiddies are hanging on the wall and they look adorable.

On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen.....

I am so happy I have my little reindeer babies. The family is complete. A huge thank you to PaPa Donker for making the last two babies. Now I invite everyone to drive by my house and view my little reindeer family. They are so adorable. Can you guess their names?

Our house is a very, very fine house........or maybe not!

We have the spirit of Christmas in our house. The boys decorated a gingerbread house. The house was a premade box kit....did you really think I was going to hand make a gingerbread house. Uh...no! I assisted the boys in the creation. Little hints here and there but mainly it was there ideas. I think it came out really cute. I was proud of them for working together and listening to each others ideas. I placed the finished product on a side table for proper viewing by everyone that entered the house. Well later that night I noticed the gingerbread house looked different but I did nothing. The next morning I noticed the house looked really wrong. What happened?!!?! At first I thought it was sneaky children but they denied ruining their creation. Zane was a suspicious character but he nodded no as well. Then it hit us....the dogs!! But which one or all of them. Gypsy would have eaten the whole thing in one swallow. Dash(being short) would have knocked the table over trying to get at the house. Alex!!! She very sneakily was licking and eating small portions of the house....the icicles, the cany canes, the peppermint windows. Oh what a sad looking gingerbread house it is now. So the house is set highter up now and the boys still enjoy their creation...just less of it now.

The Reason for the Season

The boys and I went to 'Walk Through Bethlehem' (http://209.61.148.168/templates/System/details.asp?id=35870&PID=369056) on saturday night at Kings Avenue Baptist Church. We were fortunate to have friends join us. Amy and Chris with their little army and Karen with her two tikes. This has become a tradition for the boys and I. The boys get to learn about Jesus in a realistic setting. I am always excited to go every year. I want the boys to understand Christmas is not santa, elves, lights and toys. It is about the birth of Jesus. I know I can't get away from all the hipe of Christmas and Santa nor do I want to. That is also what makes Christmas special and transforming for a child. But by goodness the birth of Jesus should be the main point of the season. And try to get this across to them.....I will succeed!

Christmas Parade

My whole family went to the Lakeland Christmas Parade last night. John surprised us and took the day off to be with us.....how sweet! The parade is a tradition in my family. I am so glad I can pass it along to my boys. They are Lakeland boys....born and half raised there. I had a friend(Stacy) and her kids join us this year. I am glad my family is pleasant and embrace my friends. I think Stacy and her kids felt relaxed and enjoyed themselves. I hope they can join us again next year. Some of the sights we saw at the parade were Elvis, Ronald McDonald, fireworks, the Grinch, dogs, horses, high school bands and of course Mr and Mrs. Claus.











On A Sad Note.......Our beloved pet ants did not make it. We had two left in the ant farm. Trey let them go this morning. They made wonderful tunnels and then died. Why... I do not know. We will send off for more ants and see what happens. So if you were planning to join our flock for a friday or saturday night ant watch you must wait a few weeks. I will let everyone know when they can come over.

I'm Baacckk!!

I hope you all have been missing me.....but I am now back! I have been meaning to blog for a while and then the unthinkable happened. I fell ill, I got sick, I came down with a cold. This just can not happen to a mommy with three kiddies and Christmas just around the corner. In hindsight it was a minor cold but it wiped me off my butt. I did not have much energy last week. The energy I did have I used at Evan's school for his Christmas store. And the rest of the week I was lazy, uninspired and unmotivated. So please everyone forgive me. Today(sunday) was the first day I truely felt energized and eager to do things around the house and world(I went grocery shopping). I was a very bad girl today and sent the men/boys of the house off to church this morning without the mommy. I(the mommy) spent church time cleaning and dusting the house. Clean sheets and towels for everyone. And a bonus....the inside of the house is beginning to look like Christmas. The outside of the house has been done for a few days now but then again daddy has not been sick and still running around school helping out. Ah...it is good to be my old self again. Now if only my appetite would pick up. Food is still not my friend....and NO I have not lost weight during the illness.

First Timer

I have a "first" experience. It's a shocker but I am willing to expose myself for all the world(well...blog world) to see. I cooked my first turkey the other day. It was for Evan's first grade Indian/Pilgrim feast.. The Butterball turkey was about fifteen pounds. I did not stuff it per the teachers request. I did not ask why as I was just really happy to oblige the teacher. I told her I have never cooked a turkey before and she did not care. I am a good actress and reassured her I was a good cook in other areas and could handle a turkey. I mean come on I told her...look at my kids...they are not starving by any means. I asked my mother for advice on how to cook it. I read the direction that came with the Butterball Tom. I borrowed a meat thermometer and roasting pan and off to the stove I went. Following my moms advice about how to get the skin golden brown and the advice of the Butterball company about turkey temperature....my turkey came out BEAUTIFUL!!! I impressed my husband which is very hard to do with cooking. The teacher and other parents at the mini feast were very impressed with the juiciness of the Tom. The carver(the teacher's hubby) kept commenting about how the meat was tender and fell off the bone. A Julia Childs I am not but my cooking skills are getting better with age. Next year maybe I can try to cook a turkey with stuffing. Anybody want to have Thanksgiving at my house next November?

New Pets

We have some new pet additions to the family. As if three dogs and two turtles are not enough for mommy(me) to take care of. These pets are very low maintenance. They require food and water about once a week....and a plus for mommy.....no poop or pee to clean up. They take care of themselves. They are a very contained sort of pet.
They are ants!!! Trey has an ant farm. He got the present for his birthday from his favorite cousin, Haley(I love you baby girl). How did she know this is just what Trey wanted. A bonus is that the other two boys get to enjoy the pets. Fun for the entire family....to sit around and watch ants make tunnels in the white sand. So if you ever need something to do on a friday or saturday night please stop by my house and watch the ants with us. We do party it up at the Hydock house!

Oh the Noise - Oh the Smell

There are pluses and minuses to having the crib in my bedroom. Plus....I can hear my child vomit in the middle of the night and help him right away. Minus....I get woken up in the middle of the night to the smell and noises of a child vomiting. Oh joy to me! That is exactly what happened last night. I usually have a strong stomach and can handle any smell and sight from my children. But when I get woken up and I am groggy.... my system is not working at full capacity. Last night my stomach was churning and the smells were very intensified by my sleepy state. The first time it occurred I woke up to my poor child standing in his crib with throw up dribbling down his chin onto his pajamas. Oh the smell! I woke up DH(he was sleeping with the middle child) as I was getting clean pajamas and crib sheets. Hey...why should I be the only one to experience all the fun at 1am. The second time it occurred I jumped up after hearing coughing and gagging from the crib. Oh the noise! I was not yet asleep but really trying. Child was grabbed and thrust into bathroom to the toilet at the precise moment of projectile vomiting. I got lucky! DH never woke up the second time around. I was a nice wife! So the rest of the night I slept very light and fitfully waiting for the wonderful noises and smells of sickess. They never occurred again the rest of the night...thank goodness. The third time it occurred was in the morning while DH was home alone in the garage with the ill baby. Garage floors are easier to clean according to DH...lucky him! Now the child is sleeping for what is hopefully a healing and restful nap. I pray for no more noise and smells!

Playtime

My playgroup went to Granma's Hug-N-Farm on tuesday. Mainly the only kids not in school these days are the toddlers(newborns to age 3) so Zane fits right in and has many friends. The group has been several times over the years to this particular farm. The experience has always been enjoyable. A few things Zane enjoyed were the hayride, donkeys, ducks, baby chicks, bunnies, playhouse and pony swing. And of course having his buddies with him. I am glad Zane and mommy were able to have a morning to themselves. Alone time with each child is quite difficult these days.
Did I ever mention I love my playgroup. I have been part of them since Trey was about 9 months old and Evan was 2 and a half years old. There have been name changes of the group. Moms have come and gone for a variety of reason....matriculation, moves, lack of interest, not right fit of group. But the core moms of this group are my support system. I can not live without them. They are my family(my sister included) and I truely need them all. You all know who you are so no names are needed. Some of my mom family have blogs of their own. You can check them out to the right of this post. Get to know them. The blogs are awesome, witty and quite funny at times.

Swing Batter Batter

Evan is in Little League "winter baseball". This means the season is practice for the "real" season to start in spring. Evan needed the practice since this is his first time at machine pitch. I think he is doing awesome. He seems to really like playing the sport. DH was a Little League kid so Evan comes by it naturally I suppose. As a whole I like the Little League program. They require parents to volunteer four hours in the concession stand or pay an extra fee. Well most of you know me......I will volunteer in order to avoid the extra fee. I volunteered in the beginning of October for the morning shift. It was fun...I worked the grill the whole four hours. No one else wanted this spot. Uh hello....I am a mom....I cook everyday. What is the big deal?! Working in the concession stand reminded me of my teenage work days at Wendy's. That is where I began my love affair with dipping french fries in ketchup and mayonaise. Yum Yum!! I also learned to count back change
to people at Wendy's. The cash registers were not computerized back then in the "olden days". Employees actually had to use their brains and use the math they learned in school. Nowadays employees appear to only know how to count change back forward. If a mistake occurs the employee is dumbfounded how to correct the error. I am amazed at the stupidity. But I have digressed from the topic. This is typical of
me ......my brain is ADHD sometimes. Get used to my blogs...I am who I am.

trick or treat

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Trick or Treat I got a wild idea a few weeks ago and decided to make the treat/gift bags for Halloween for Evan's 1st grade class. There are only thirteen kids in the class so I thought I could handle the task. When I say make them I mean I actually sewed the bags on my sewing machine. Other moms in the class filled up the bags with the goodies. The idea is wild for me since I just learned to sew in the spring of this year. And the only thing I ever made was in the sewing class I took with a trained sewing professional constantly looking over my shoulder instructing me step by step. But I must say I found the task quite enjoyable and the bags did not turn out too bad. I am considering doing another sewing project for Trey's preschool class for Christmas. But this time with a sewing friend of mine.




Continuing on the Halloween theme........the boys and daddy dressed up for trick or treating. The theme was Scooby Doo plus the ghost pirate the gang captures. Costumes are quite expensive so I chose not to be Velma or Daphne. I just could not fork over $30/40 for one night. At least the boys got to wear their costumes for a few occassions like a halloween party, the church fall festival and then halloween night. Trey does not look happy in the photo because he did not want to wear the wig and goatee. I made him(yes I am a mean mommy) wear them just for the photos. Zane had a scooby doo head covering but there was no getting him to wear that. He is two and those tantrums can be quite horrible. After the photos were done everyone cheered up and Halloween night was a success!

The first blog!

I have decided to start a blog. I wanted a place where family and friends can come and see what is happening in my life with Dh and the boys. The boys are growing way too fast and I just can't keep up telling everyone about all that is happening on a day to day basis. Hence the blog. If you like the blogs please let me know. If you don't.....keep that to yourselves. I get enough criticism in life without hearing it from cyberspace. Enjoy!!!